Archives

Western Conference

Canucks vs. Kings
Canucks in 6 – This is a tough one for me. Clearly, anyone who follows my blog knows I want the Kings to win. I also don’t have much confidence in Luongo as a playoff goalie. However, the Canucks are still #1 in the NHL this season and the team that lost the Finals last year. The Canucks are going to be hungry to get the Cup they lost last year in game 7. On the same side of the argument, the Kings were amazing on paper this year, but never quite performed as well as one would think they should. Though I understand why a team fires a coach in that situation (and the Kings did fire Murray), that’s rarely the main problem and didn’t seem to be in this case. The Kings were everywhere from 3rd place to out of the playoffs the last few weeks and just barely made it to the playoffs. I think I have to pick the Canucks for this series, but I think it’ll be an exciting one to watch.

Blues vs. Sharks
Sharks in 6 – Another tough one! The Blues led the Western Conference much of this season, which surprised many of us – especially those who know the way the Blues have performed in recent history. Heck, those who know the entire history of the team (tied with the Kings for longest in the NHL without winning the Cup) have to be surprised. Most of the Blues have very little playoff experience and because of that, I predicted that they’d be out of the playoffs this year in 5 or 6 games months ago. The Blues haven’t gotten out of the first round of the playoffs since 2002. Perhaps this is the year, since it has been 10 years. The Sharks have a history of performing very poorly in the playoffs, too. I picked them for an early exit last season and got burned. I think the Blues will help the Sharks to advance this time and do better in the 2013 playoffs.

Coyotes vs. Blackhawks
Coyotes in 6 – Though the Blackhawks would have home ice advantage in this match-up (actually, they wouldn’t even be matched up) if the Coyotes weren’t given 3rd place automatically by winning the worst division in the Western Conference, but I think when push comes to shove they’ll have what it takes to knock the Blackhawks out and advance to the second round of the 2012 playoffs.

Predators vs. Red Wings
Red Wings in 7 – Every time I think the Red Wings can’t possibly pull out another playoff series win and that they’ll exit early in the playoffs, I end up being wrong. This year, it seems like an easier choice even though the Predators are two points ahead of the Red Wings this season and have home ice advantage. The Red Wings are a dynasty for many reasons and one of those is that when the chips are down they bring it – almost every time. They’re a tough team to beat and I don’t think the Predators have what it takes this year. The Predators and Red Wings split their regular season series, so this should be an exciting series to watch.

Eastern Conference

Rangers vs. Senators
Rangers in 5 – As much as I’d love to see the Senators beat the Rangers, I just can’t see it happening. The Rangers have been too dominant this season and have a lot of playoff experience. The Senators may surprise me, but I doubt it.

Bruins vs. Capitals
Capitals in 6 – The Bruins just won the Cup last year and while they’ve played very well this season, they’re actually tied for the Devils in points and would be in the 4/5 position without the automatic division-winning top 3 ranking. The Capitals haven’t done as well as many would think they should in the playoffs, but I think they’ve got what it takes to get to the second round again.

Panthers vs. Devils
Devils in 5 – Without the automatic top three ranking given to the Panthers for winning the worst division in the Eastern Conference, the Panthers would be ranked 6th (facing the Flyers without home ice advantage). I don’t think even the home ice advantage can help them get past the Devils to the second round. The Devils are from the only Eastern Conference division with 4 teams in the playoffs and have had to fight harder to get there than the Panthers. I think the Devils are already in playoff shape and ready to move on to round two.

Penguins vs. Flyers
Penguins in 6 or 7 – I think this series is going to be a blood bath. The Flyers and Pens have a long history and fierce rivalry. They’re ranked 2nd and 3rd in the conference by points and 4th and 6th out of all 30 teams in the NHL. It’s a great match-up and NBC Sports Network (*shudder*) should be thrilled. I think the Penguins will win this one, but it’ll be tough. This is going to be another nail biter for fans of both teams, but an exciting series for all.

Other Playoff Notes
The Atlantic and Central divisions both have four teams in the playoffs this season. I didn’t go back too far, but know it’s pretty rare for both conferences to have two divisions with 4 teams making it to the playoffs. I’m not sure what (if anything) that will do the ratings. Fortunately, for those in television, some of the most popular teams for ratings (Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Detroit Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, …) are in those two divisions, so it may actually improve the ratings in spite of the teams playing teams they faced a lot in the regular season for the playoffs.

The Atlantic division almost has the top four teams in the Eastern Conference (the Devils would be in 5th ranked by points, due to their number of wins in regulation & OT), which is also pretty rare.

I know the NHL playoffs work differently than other major league sports and it doesn’t make sense to those who only follow sports like basketball, baseball, etc. where there is a simple bracket to follow, but NHL putting this fake bracket together does not help with the confusion. If you look at this bracket, you might assume that if the Kings, Sharks, Coyotes, and Predators won round one that the Kings would face the Sharks in round 2 while the Coyotes face the Predators. However, if that were to happen, the Kings would face the Coyotes (the top remaining seed) and the Sharks would face the Coyotes. The NHL has always reseeded and I think it’s a great idea. Yes, it makes it difficult to answer the question “Who will the Kings face in round 2 if they make it to the second round?” But if someone who doesn’t understand how the NHL playoffs works sees a chart supposedly showing them how the playoffs will go and it changes for round two, it’ll only frustrate them. Maybe one of these days the NHL will realize that going up against the more popular US sport (basketball) and trying to confuse fans are not the best plans for a league, but I’m not holding my breath.

Here’s hoping this year’s playoffs are exciting even though it’s more nerve wracking for fans of the teams involved. May the odds be ever in your favor…

Last year, both Southern California NHL teams made the playoffs. The Ducks were the 4th seed, believe it or not. What a difference a year makes. Though the Kings went back and forth between being 3rd, 7th, 8th, and even out of the playoffs in the last couple weeks of the regular season, they ended in 8th. By points, the three Pacific teams who made this year’s NHL playoffs are 6th – 8th place. I’ve always been a believer in giving home ice advantage to the teams who do the best, not automatically assigning the top three seed positions to the winners of each division in the two conferences. If that were the case, none of the Pacific teams would start out with home ice advantage. Since it’s not, the Phoenix Coyotes (below the Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, and Chicago Blackhawks in points) will have home ice advantage to start the playoffs. (As a side note, the Florida Panthers are in the same position in the East.)

The Anaheim Ducks were pretty clearly out of the playoffs early on this year. They replaced their coach with the hopes that it would help them, but I really don’t think they’ll be able to do much until they replace their general manager and no GM in his right mind would tell the owners of a team to fire him, so I’m guessing Murray bought himself a bit of time by blaming Randy Carlyle. Of course, the team’s poor performance for the rest of the season seems like a very good argument that Carlyle was not the problem

On paper, the Los Angeles Kings are a very strong team. They were expected to be pretty dominant this season and go far in the playoffs. They had a rough year and didn’t do nearly as well as expected. Some will argue that’s due to the strength of the Pacific Division, but I think the Atlantic Division (with four teams in the playoffs) in the East is a good argument against that. The Atlantic Division has almost all strong teams. Four out of the five teams will be in the playoffs. If you ranked by points instead of giving the division leaders the 2nd and 3rd spots, the Atlantic Division would be ranked 1-4 in the east and they’d all have home ice advantage. Considering the fact that the Pacific teams are the lowest in points, they really don’t seem as strong overall.

Of course, none of that matters as the playoffs start later this week. It’ll be interesting to see how the Kings perform in the playoffs this year. They’ve definitely got the advantage of having to fight to get into the playoffs, but they ended with a couple of losses in SO/OT against the Sharks and have to face Vancouver, who knocked them out of the playoffs two years ago and often seems to have their number. The schedule will be released 10am Pacific time on Sunday.

As the Kings took the ice yesterday morning in El Segundo to start training camp, fans definitely discussed the absence of Drew Doughty. Everyone knew he wouldn’t be there, since his agent and Kings GM Dean Lombardi have yet to come to an agreement, but #8 was certainly talked about a lot yesterday. I realize he’s a great defenseman and definitely a key player, but I think fans should concentrate on those who WERE on the ice and be happy.

Anze Kopitar, Kings leading scorer (in spite of playing 75 of the 82 games), was greeted by enthusiastic applause by the fans watching training camp. Kopi said it was “a little bit tough to be in the skate for about three hours, but other than that it’s all good.” He said he hasn’t had too much pain and that it’s more uncomfortable than anything else and doesn’t seem to think it’ll affect his skating or play at all. This is definitely good news for Kings fans who had to watch him break his ankle just before the playoffs earlier this year, which was certainly a big factor in the team being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

Dustin Penner looks better than I can remember him looking – ever. He seemed faster and in better shape, which could be a very good sign for Kings fans. Penner, who trained very hard during the off season reduced his body fat percentage by 4%, but would not tell us what his body fat percent is (or was). When asked about being on the ice with Kopi and Williams, he said they probably only got to play in about 6 games together due to the timing of his arrival and Kopi’s injury, but said that “the chemistry came a lot quicker with those two guys.”

Training camps always bring new faces to a team and this year is no exception for the Kings. Mike Richards, Simone Gage, and Trent Hunter seem to be fitting in well with the Kings. In fact, team captain Dustin Brown found himself having to fit in with Richards and Gagne, who know each other’s style of play well.

The Kings’ first pre-season games are split squad games (home and away) against the Coyotes this Wednesday night. I’m not sure which players will be in Staples Center, but hockey returning to LA is always a good thing for the fans. Since it looks like there won’t be a season for the NBA this year, the Kings should find themselves having more Saturday night games than originally scheduled. Most fans I’ve talked to about this change are happy about it. Traffic for 1pm games is always bad for me both ways, so I’m sure the same is true for many fans traveling to Staples Center. SoCal hockey is back! If you have a chance to get out to the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, all Kings Training Camp practices are open to the public.

Here they are – my playoff predictions for the first round. Some of these were difficult for me to pick, but here are my thoughts.

Eastern Conference

Capitals vs. Rangers
Capitals in 5 – I don’t think this will be at all challenging for the Capitals given the way the Rangers have been playing lately. I think the Rangers will win a game, hopefully at home for their fans. I may not like the team, but I think all fans deserve a win at home in the playoffs.

Flyers vs. Sabres
Flyers in 6 – The Sabres have been playing amazingly well lately and have the best record in the last ten games out of all the teams in the NHL, but I still think the Flyers will prevail in the end. They’re a strong team and I think they may be the team that’ll make it out of the east.

Bruins vs. Canadiens
Bruins in 5 – With Tim Thomas (who should get the Vezina again) in goal, I don’t see how the Bruins can go wrong here. The Canadiens only won half of their last ten games and certainly don’t seem to be in playoff form at the moment.

Penguins vs. Lightning
Penguins in 6 – The Pens ended their season with the second best set of 10 games in the NHL and in spite of not having team captain Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin healthy, they have been finding ways to win. There’s still hope that Crosby might be able to return at some point during the playoffs, though clearly the Penguins will be careful not to rush him back too quickly. If Sid returns, who knows how well the Penguins will be able to do with him back in the lineup.

Western Conference

Canucks vs. Blackhawks
Canucks in 5 – The Blackhawks almost didn’t make it into the playoffs. They were 5-4-1 in their last ten games and only made it into the playoffs, since the Stars lost their last game of the season, too. I could see the Canucks sweeping the Blackhawks, but I think the Blackhawks will be able to win one game. The Canucks aren’t perfect and if the Hawks play well they’re an amazing team.

Sharks vs. Kings
Kings in 6 – I’ve heard some people say they think this will be the year the Sharks do well in the playoffs. It’s bound to happen one of these days and perhaps Nabokov was the reason they weren’t able to do well in the past. That might be true, but I don’t think so. These Sharks are definitely different than the Sharks on the last few years, but the Kings split their series with the Sharks including a win in the last month of the season. Of course, if the Kings who played the last two games of the season against the Ducks show up, I have to change this prediction to Sharks in 5. Anze Kopitar is definitely out until next season and though Justin Williams has been skating, he’s still an unknown. If he ends up getting back in time, he could help the Kings survive the first round.

Red Wings vs. Coyotes
Coyotes in 6 – The Red Wings have the worst record of the 8 teams who made it into the playoffs in their last ten games of the season (4-4-2) and have had some goaltending issues. The Red Wings look tired and I think the fact that they have quite a few older players and their goaltending isn’t as good as it has been the last few playoff runs. It took the Red Wings seven games to beat the Coyotes in the first round last year and I think the Coyotes will be even more motivated this year and will upset the Red Wings.

Ducks vs. Predators
Ducks in 6 – When Hiller got injured, a lot of people (including me) thought that would be the end of the Ducks’ playoff hopes. Hiller had been keeping the Ducks in the mix and very few thought they could manage without him. Anaheim proved us all wrong. Corey Perry (#1 goal scorer in the NHL this season with 50 goals) and Lubomir Visnovsky (the top scoring defenseman with 68 points) really stepped up. The Ducks have two of the top ten scorers in the NHL this season (and Getzlaf is tied for 11th) – if you resort by points per game, all three of their top scorers are in the top 10. I think that is what will get them past the Predators (whose top scorers are tied for 91st in the NHL). Pekka Rinne (the #2 goaltender in save percentage) has carried the Predators through the season, but I think he’s met his match in the Ducks’ offense. I don’t think it’ll be a super easy series, though I could see the Ducks winning in 5 games, too.

It didn’t seem likely at the beginning of the season, as the Ducks started out 0-3, but tonight’s win over the LA Kings in Anaheim ensured that the Ducks, Kings, and Sharks would all be in the playoffs in 2011. It’s the first time since the Ducks joined the NHL (in 1993) that all three teams will be in the playoffs at the same time. Who would have predicted that in spite of Canada having double the teams of California that California would be represented by more teams than Canada? (Only Vancouver, #1 in the NHL, and Montreal will be representing Canada in the NHL playoffs in 2011).

Ducks’ coach Randy Carlyle said that “it is amazing that you’ve got to play 81 games to find out you finally made the playoffs.” Carlyle also talked about how great it is for California hockey (not just SoCal) that all three teams from the state are in the playoffs this year.

Though Teemu Selanne (40) is the oldest player on the Ducks and one of the oldest players in the NHL, he’s consistently been one of the best and scored the Ducks’ only two goals tonight against the Kings. Selanne is the only one of the 10 oldest players currently playing in the NHL in the top ten of NHL scoring (#9 before tonight’s two goals). Coincidentally, Ryan Smyth, the Kings’ oldest player (35) scored the only Kings goal in Anaheim tonight.

Because of tonight’s loss, the Kings fell to 6th place in the western conference. The conference is so tight that the Kings can still end up in 4th place if they win tomorrow and Nashville and Phoenix lose their final games in regulation. In fact, the Ducks could still potentially end up in 4th place, since they beat the Predators and Coyotes in the first tie breaker. With the playoff standings still up in the air, tomorrow night’s game in LA where the Kings and Ducks face off again is sure to be an intense end of the season before the SoCal teams start the playoffs next week.

Those following the Kings’ season will not be at all surprised that the Kings clinched their playoff spot in a shootout. Their number one goalie (Jonathan Quick) is now 10-0 in shootouts. The team is 10-2, but both shootout losses were by Jonathan Bernier. Quick isn’t the only reason the Kings have had such success in the shootout this season. Jarret Stoll is 9 for 10 in the shootout this season, which is amazing.

With tonight’s win, the Kings are currently in 4th place in the western conference and have played the same number of games as the other teams currently the playoff spots. Home ice advantage for round one of the playoffs is definitely a real possibility for the Kings. It would be the first time they’d had home ice advantage in the playoffs since the early 90s. They’ve also tied the club record for 46 wins in a season (also in 09-10 & 90-91). Stoll’s 20th goal of the season tonight gives the Kings six 20 goal scorers for the first time since 92-93, which was the only time the Kings got to the Stanley Cup Finals.

In spite of how it may have looked to some of us watching the overtime tonight in Staples Center, Terry Murray said the Kings always play to win in overtime when in those situations and were NOT playing to get into the shootout, since their goaltender is undefeated in the shootout. Not surprisingly, Murray also said “it was a fun game to coach tonight” and later responded “this is the best time of my life” when asked if he was having fun.

For their part in this season possibly being the first time he two SoCal teams (and, in fact, all three California NHL teams) make the NHL playoffs, the Ducks beat the Sharks tonight in Anaheim. They were led by Corey Perry’s hat trick, including his league leading 50th goal of the season.

The Kings and Ducks face off in their last two games of the season in back to back games in Anaheim Friday and Los Angeles Saturday. Both games are sure to be very intense, since the Ducks may still be fighting to clinch their playoff spot and both teams will want to finish as high in the standings as possible.

The Anaheim Ducks could have clinched a playoff spot for themselves and the Los Angeles Kings tonight, by beating the Stars and gaining those four points needed to secure their position. Much to the disappointment of their fans (though a sellout wasn’t announced, there were more fans in Honda Center than I’ve seen there in quite a while, so actual attendance seemed to be up), the Ducks did not come away from tonight’s game with a win against the even more desperate Dallas Stars.

The Stars and Ducks had both lost last night (the Stars to the Kings in LA, the Ducks to the Sharks in San Jose). Since Calgary won tonight, the Stars didn’t improve their standings by beating the Ducks tonight in Anaheim. They do have two games in hand on the Flames, though. Chicago did lose in regulation, potentially hoping the Stars or the Flames.

The Kings need two more points on the Stars – either by them gaining points (with one win or two overtime losses in the next four games) or by the Stars losing a single game in regulation or two games in overtime. The Ducks are in a similar position, but need four points, since they lost to the Stars and still need the four points they needed going into tonight’s game. Four points in 3 games doesn’t sound like a lot, but the Ducks have no easy games in their last three. They face the San Jose Sharks at home Wednesday, host the Kings Friday, and play the Kings in LA for their final regular season game. The Kings are just as desperate for points to improve their playoff standing (they would certainly rather face the Predators or Coyotes than the Canucks or Red Wings in the first round. The Canucks are much better than they were when the Kings faced them last year in the playoffs and that ended in the Kings being beaten in 6 games. Definitely not the end they’d like for the playoffs this year. Without Anze Kopitar, the Kings’ road is already more difficult than it would have been without his injuries. They don’t need the added pressure of facing one of the best playoff teams in history (the Red Wings) or the Presidents’ Trophy winner (the Canucks).

As anyone who watched the game in Anaheim tonight knows, there were a couple of disputed no goal calls against the Ducks at the end of the game. Personally, after watching replays at Honda Center and at home in HD, I believe the refs made the right call in both cases and would like to commend them for doing such a good job with them. (I’d like to point out that the Ducks’ own broadcast team agrees with me on both of these calls, which surprised me from what I’ve heard them say in the past.) Referees are often booed and blamed when a team is performing poorly (taking stupid penalties, icing the puck, etc.), but they rarely get the credit they deserve for making so many calls correctly. Everyone points out the one or two calls they may have missed in a game rather than looking at the dozens they got right in that same game. Most of us are more likely to complain than compliment service at a store or restaurant, so I’m not saying the behavior of fans is unusual… I’m just trying to point out that the referees have a very difficult job and skate for over 60 minutes in a game, which is triple the average ice time of a player. If you’re a Ducks fan and didn’t get to watch the game on TV (I record every game I attend in case there are questionable calls I’d like to review in HD later), try to record or watch the replay. I think you’ll see that the calls were made well, though you’ll still be upset with them. I don’t believe the puck Perry touched with his hand touched his skate and it definitely didn’t hit his stick. I’m sure he intended to pass it to himself, but he didn’t and that’s a very clear rule. When asked about the goals, coach Randy Carlyle said it was clear Lehtonen had been skated into in the crease and it’s not clear if Corey Perry hit the puck with his skate or not, but if he didn’t then it’s a hand pass and a good call. (With calls like that, you can’t really argue strongly against any call made on the ice.) Carlyle went on to explain that “obviously we don’t feel very good about the calls that went against us, but … I don’t know if we were worthy of it… to get that goal at that point.” Carlyle explained that they made some mental mistakes – not from lack of effort, but they were mistakes that led to the Stars’ goals and the loss.

Fans should think about placing blame where it’s due and being upset with their team for not making the close calls irrelevant. If the coach of your favorite team isn’t upset enough that he can’t discuss the situation (for fear of fines by the NHL or getting so upset that he’ll say something he shouldn’t), I’d argue that it’s time to stop being a homer and look at the goals in question. I’m sure they’re already on YouTube if you can’t catch a replay. On the bright side, it was really nice to see the Ducks fans passionate enough about their team to boo so loudly. I don’t think I’ve heard cheering that loud in Anaheim since they won the Stanley Cup Finals at home in 2007. The booing was almost deafening. It was like being at a concert, it was so loud. I loved seeing the crowd so involved and staying to the end of the game. Most of the fans in attendance tonight left together at the end of regulation. Normally, whether the Ducks are ahead or behind, a lot of fans leave early. The earlier start Sundays certainly helps those with children not have to leave early to get their children in bed for school, but many without kids leave games early, too. It’s something I’ll never understand, but it was great to see the Ducks fans stay until the end for such an important game at the end of the regular season. Fans are still only guaranteed two more games in Honda Center this April. Hopefully, the arena will be packed as they face the Sharks Wednesday and Kings Friday. The playoff race is tighter than I can remember it this late in the season, which should help bring in the fans.

Will this be the first year all three California teams make the playoffs the same year? We won’t know the answer to that for a couple days (at the earliest), but the Kings have another opportunity to clinch their playoff spot tomorrow in San Jose as they face the Sharks in the Shark Tank.

The Kings are now 9-2 in the shootout (and their #1 goalie, Jonathan Quick is 9-0) and 24-0-1 when leading after the 2nd period. They also scored two power play goals tonight (both by team captain, Dustin Brown), though their power play had been struggling lately. They’ve moved back into 5th place in the western conference and have 2 games in hand on the 4th place Coyotes, three points ahead of the Kings. The Kings also have back to back wins at home after playing horribly in their first game back after sweeping the recent four game road trip. Willie Mitchell scored a nice goal. Jarret Stoll scored his 7th straight shootout goal. All of this is very good news for the LA Kings fans.

The bad news is that the Kings gave up two leads against the Sharks (one with only 4.1 seconds to go), ended their penalty kill streak at 35, and lose the first tie breaker (wins not counting shootout wins) with everyone. The Kings are also only four points ahead of the 9th place Dallas Stars and being out of the playoffs. As much as the fans and players want to enjoy the playoffs at Staples Center again this year, only one team in the western conference has a guaranteed spot – the Vancouver Canucks have clinched the head of their division and are currently leading the NHL and the race for the President’s Trophy.

In spite of scoring both the Kings’ power play goals and the winning goal in the shootout, Captain Dustin Brown was clearly concerned about the team blowing two leads at the end of regulation tonight, saying it was “definitely not the way we want to do it… blowing two leads really with less than three minutes left or four minutes left.” It may not be the way a team would want to win, but at least the Kings are winning. The game against the Sharks was an exciting one. Both teams even fought hard to try to win in overtime and had decent chances. The sold out crowd at Staples Center definitely found going out in the rain (something southern Californians seem to try to avoid at all costs) and the money spent worth it tonight. I may not be a fan of the shootout (and I can’t see my opinion of it ever changing), but the shootout ending with Dustin Brown scoring the deciding goal was definitely an exciting end to a very intense game in Los Angeles.

The playoff race is definitely going to remain intense until the end of the season. All NHL teams have nine games or less left in the regular season and only ten percent of the teams have secured their playoff spots. No teams are listed as mathematically eliminated on the NHL site yet, but Edmonton and Colorado have been mathematically eliminated in the west. If they won all of their games and no one above them won a single game remaining this season (which is impossible given the schedules and all the teams ahead of them that play each other), the Avalanche finish higher than 11th in the west. (For the record, no one has been mathematically eliminated in the eastern conference.)

Fans may have booed the Kings off the ice after the second disappointing period against the Blues on St. Patrick’s Day, but the announced sellout crowd was ready to cheer their Kings on at Staples Center against the Ducks last night.

Many Kings fans had issues with the call against Alexei Ponikarovsky which made the puck going into the net irrelevant and put the Ducks on the power play, though Ponikarovsky had been pushed into Emery by Sbisa. Per the rules in the NHL, the no goal call was correct. The penalty was definitely a bad call, but since the Ducks didn’t score, that’s not a big point. Some may disagree with the way that rule works in the NHL (had Sbisa been on top of Emery, it would have clearly been a goal for the Kings and no penalty on either team), but the rules definitely read that way, so the only call I think was bad there was the penalty on Ponikarovsky for basically being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting pushed down on top of Emery.

The Kings and Ducks both played hard. Emery (who’s allowed only 2 goals in the 2+ NHL games he’s played this season) looked great for the Ducks and the battle was exciting for fans on both sides. Unfortunately, for everyone else fighting for a spot in the western conference playoffs, the game resulted in three points being handed out, since the Kings got a point for losing in overtime. I’ve never been a fan of getting something for losing. It makes no sense to me. I know it makes this time of year more exciting and that fans of many more teams believe their team has a chance, but I’ll never get used to the idea of giving a team credit for losing a game.

Willie Mitchell said the Kings “played really well tonight” and “exactly how we wanted to play.” He went on to explain that more times than not when they play like that, they’ll win the game. The plan, as always, is to continue to play well even though I saw some fans tweeting about when the Kings go on the road again, since the Kings swept their recent four game road trip and have only scored one goal in their 2 games (including a little bit of overtime play) at home since that trip.

The playoff race is going to be exciting until the very end this season largely because of points obtained in losing situations. Many of the remaining games are four point games to the teams involved, like tonight’s game in Anaheim where the Ducks (currently in 9th place, 1 point behind 8th) host the Calgary Flames (in 10th place tied in points with the Ducks, who have played two fewer games). If Anaheim wins tonight, they could frog to 6th place in the west if Chicago and Nashville both lose their games. If the Blackhawks and Predators both win and the Ducks win, they’d still end up in the 8th and final playoff spot until tomorrow’s games are played. Los Angeles remained in 5th place when losing last night and are three points behind the 4th place Phoenix Coyotes.

Dustin Penner’s first game as a King was definitely different from their collapse against the Red Wings in the 7-4 loss Monday. The Kings went from a game where 11 goals were scored to a game where the only goal was the game winning power play goal by Jarret Stoll at 12:13 in the 3rd period. When talking about the upcoming playoffs, Stoll mentioned that “You really can’t have a bad period any more.” With any luck, the game against the Red Wings Monday combined with the addition of Dustin Penner will be what the Kings need to shake them up and get them into playoff mode as the regular season winds down.

Bernier got his second shutout of the season tonight in LA, but Terry Murray said he hasn’t thought about who will start on Saturday yet when asked if Bernier’s performance tonight has him thinking of starting him on Saturday. Jonathan Quick was definitely less than stellar Monday night against the Red Wings, but one can hardly blame him completely for the Kings’ breakdown that night. The Kings did well in their last afternoon game, but I’m sure Kings fans are crossing their fingers that their team can play two afternoon games in a row at a high level and stay in the playoff mix.

The Western Conference is so tight that one win moved the Kings from 8th to 5th place (and the Coyotes, who have played two more games than the Kings, but are tied in points with 76) down to 6th from 5th. Terry Murray often talks about how important the four point games are within the division and at this time of the season, these games seem even more important in a tight conference.